


Playing Favourites

by Jrade



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Cute, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Helping Out a Friend, Hero of the people she is, Mentions are all pretty brief heh, Okay that summary makes it sound threatening but it's not, Or at least some of the people some of the time, Sombra's got friends everywhere!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-28
Updated: 2017-09-28
Packaged: 2019-01-06 09:44:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12208725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jrade/pseuds/Jrade
Summary: Alejandra's out near nighttime -again. You'd think she might have learned from last time, but as it turns out a chance meeting with a hero wasn't exactly a discouragement. Quite the opposite, in fact.Sombra has a few words in the wake of her meeting with Zarya and Lynx Seventeen - and a few questions, as well. Alejandra? Well, she's got a few answers.





	Playing Favourites

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place shortly after the comic ["Searching"](https://comic.playoverwatch.com/en-us/zarya-searching).

 

 

 

A long, brown braid bounced gently on her back as she jogged through the streets. Her eyes flicked nervously toward the skies - it was getting dark, and if she was out much later her mama was going to get worried.

Some things, though, she was starting to learn - as crazy as it might seem - some things were just more important than your mama telling you to be home before dark.

Kind of. Sometimes. She still wanted to be home before dark if she could.

She turned a corner, sneakers squeaking slightly on the pavement, and there in the alleyway was just the person she wanted to see.

Sombra sat atop a closed dumpster, reclined against the crumbling brick wall of the alley and lit by purple screens that floated in front of her face as she poked at them idly. When she heard a noise, though, she glanced up.

Seeing who it was, she jumped off of the dumpster and landed with her arms as wide as her grin. “Alé! Hey kiddo, how’re ya doing?”

“Sombra!” Alejandro exclaimed gleefully, running forward and leaping into a tight hug. “I was so worried! I heard about the warehouse exploding, and I- I just-”

Sombra’s eyebrows clouded over her face as she shook her head softly, squeezing the little girl tight and murmuring reassuringly. “Hey, hey no - it’s good, it’s all good. You did a good job. A  _ great _ job, Alejandra.” She withdrew with a smile and wiped a tear from underneath one of the girl’s frightened eyes. “You’re my hero tonight.”

“R-” Alejandra sniffed, smiling awkwardly. “Really?”

“Yeah!” Sombra chuckled, resting back on her heels and rolling her eyes. “They were  _ never _ gonna stop going door to door. I needed somebody to point them my way, and hey,” she grinned even wider, “I knew you’d get the job done right!”

Alejandra’s next smile was more genuine, as was the little giggle that gushed out with it. “Thanks! I was really worried that she wouldn’t believe me. She seemed…”

Sombra watched as Alejandra’s little face played out thoughts and emotions like a movie screen. Kids didn’t know how to keep it all under wraps, or to fake it - they hadn’t learned to lie yet.

That’s why she loved them.

“What’d you think of her, huh?”

For a few seconds, Alejandra’s eyes dropped to the ground and she chewed at her lip, fidgeting with her hands uneasily as she thought back on it - that huge, muscular, pink-haired soldier who she’d pointed toward Sombra.

“I think she…” Alejandra frowned a little, still looking off to the side rather than meeting Sombra’s eyes. “I think she really thought she was telling the truth. She said you did something bad-” her eyes snapped to Sombra’s and she held her hands out, palms open, “-but I know you didn’t! But I think she really thought you had.”

Sombra smirked, reaching out to ruffle the girl’s hair a little bit. “Heh. I’m no saint, Alé, but you’re really sweet to think so, you know?” She knew she’d done plenty of bad stuff. She didn’t feel bad about it, though - except for, sometimes, when a kid was watching her like this. A little tiny bit. Maybe.

Alejandra looked back at her with awe. In the little girl’s mind was another person she’d met once - scary with a gravelly voice and a red visor where his eyes should have been. He’d saved her life, and he’d killed men at the same time. He had been so, so angry at them - scary, terrifying - but that didn’t mean  _ bad. _

“There’s a difference,” Alejandra assured firmly, leaning forward to wrap her arms around Sombra again, “between doing a bad thing and being a bad person. Maybe you’ve done bad things but you’re not a bad person, Sombra. You’re my hero.”

Sombra’s eyes glistened wide in the dim light as she stroked a hand automatically down the back of Alejandra’s head. She was too stunned for anything else - too shocked to reply, or to laugh, or even to breathe. Her other arm slowly crept around the girl’s shoulders to hug her tight. She just held like that for a minute as she regained her composure.

Kids didn’t know how to lie, yet.

Eventually she was able to breathe easily again, only a few seconds later. Adults were  _ good _ at lying, and she was totally fine. A hundred percent. Not shaken at all. 

“Hey, you gotta get back home now,” she murmured, kissing Alejandra’s brow briefly as they parted. “You did a good job with that soldier and her omnic pal, really. I owe you one, Alé.”

“You can pay me back in root beer!” She giggled as she stepped back toward the mouth of the alleyway. “I’m really glad you’re alright. I didn’t know if Aleksandra would believe me! And then I heard about the warehouse exploding, and I-”

“I’m alright! It all went according to plan,” Sombra assured her again with a chuckle and a shake of her head.  _ Aleksandra, huh? First-name basis, that’s cute.  _ “And she believed you just fine, and…” she nodded slowly, thoughtfully, before grinning again. “I think you were bang on the money about her, Alé. You got a good head and a good heart. I’ll give you a call if I ever need another hand, eh? You know you’re my favourite girl.”

“You can bet on it!” Alejandra laughed as she backed out of the alleyway, waving happily. “There’s always room in my fridge for more root beer! And you’re my favourite too!”

Sombra chuckled and waved back, and kept waving for a while after the girl had turned and run out of sight. Eventually her hand stilled and crossed over her chest along with the other one, and she was left to think.

She did it a lot. One of her favourite pastimes, actually.

As it turned out, Katya Volskaya? Not as friendly a friend as Sombra had been hoping. Also, either far more clever or far more  _ lucky _ than she’d thought. Enough to find her  _ name _ , which still didn’t sit well with her, but this new girl - Aleksandra Zaryanova, well…

...there was somebody worth thinking about, very much.

With a smirk, Sombra waved a hand and snapped her fingers, triggering her camouflage with a bit of a flair. First, she had some root beer to buy.

**Author's Note:**

> I gotta figure Sombra doesn't leave stuff like that up to chance. Just saying, she would've heard they were going around and there's a reason nobody said anything about her up until li'l Alé there. I thought it was a cute story so I wrote it! :D
> 
> Also, one note - I know Alejandra doesn't have the accent and my shortening, Alé, does, but that's just for pronunciation things pretty much. Because Ale is just a type of beer XD
> 
> Hope you liked it folks! Hope you have a good day, and enjoy yourselves!


End file.
